Google Maps goes mobile, a billion handsets go to a good home, and user-generated content set to go mainstream
Our Pocket Picks of the week
It's been a cracking week for mobile gamers, with no less than five new titles securing our awards (kudos to Rainbow Six Vegas, Brain Genius, Joint Task Force Action, Lego Star Wars 2 and Lost!).
However if you can find a few minutes to rest your weary thumbs and lift your eyes to our sister site, Pocket Picks, you'll see there's plenty of action happening elsewhere in the mobile world.
For starters there was confirmation that 2006 saw over one billion handsets shipped, from which the chaps at Infosync and the lovely ladies at Shiny Shiny have managed to pluck their top tens.
Amongst the models staking an early claim on next year's charts, the Motorola RIZR Z8 and KRZR Z3 and the T-Mobile Ameo both looked set to stand out on these shores. Meanwhile, the super-colourful 821SH from Softbank, the ultra-thin NTT D703i, and the dynamic duo of Benneton-designed WS005IN and fingerprint sensing WX321J from Willcom look like being big in Japan.
Nokia's huge-screened, 16Gb-memoried, full-Qwerty keyboard equipped N99 concept might be more realistic for a 2008 showing, however, along with several of these intriguing concepts on offer from the patent office.
On the wireless services side, the arrival of Yell's free mobile search application and Google Maps were obvious highlights this week. The apparent limits on 3's 'unlimited' X-Series surfing was rather less welcome.
As for content, there are moves afoot in the mobile music scene, with current DRM-heavy solutions looking likely to be axed by major labels in favour of an MP3-based 'buy once, consume multiple times' approach. Mobile TV could be getting a much needed shot in the arm too, from some major US shows and an intriguing-sounding short code discount scheme from ITV.
But it's user-generated content that's going to be the next big thing according to a Telephia survey, thanks to the likes of the P2P sharing system PeerBox and Vodafone's new offering. If you're feeling particularly creative, you could even swell the numbers yourself, by drawing inspiration from the world's first mobile movie and entering the Pocket Film Festival.
